Genesis 1:26-27 (Amplified) says, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."
Mankind was created to be in God's class of being and was created to share, fellowship and receive the things Love created. Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) says, "By faith we understand the worlds were formed by the Word of God." We can only understand this, by faith. Our faith in God and His ability, is the only way to understand the marvelous act of creation. When one removes God from creation, then there's no understanding it. The God Factor is the only thing that can bring sense, purpose and order to our own existence and all of creation.
Without God, we're left with the same questions about creation, that the world has asked for millennia. We ask, "Who are we?" "Where did we come from?" "Are there other people out there?" "What happens to us, when we die?" Without faith in God, there are no sensible answers to these questions. Faith puts us in a place that sense knowledge cannot understand. It's by faith in God that we understand and receive salvation and we should use this same faith in God, to receive everything else from His Word. If we don't have faith in God, then salvation is just a religious meas of trying to force the body to do only what it should, but without the Spirit of God and His Word giving Life back into our spirit. The Same God Who formed the heavens and earth, is the Same God Who created us from the beginning.
We were created a spirit being and then God formed a body for our spirit to live in, on this earth. Most of us weren't aware of the reality that we're a spirit being, until we were born-again. Some believe that we become a spirit, after we die and go to Heaven. We can only understand this by faith, so we continue struggling with our body. We were born-again by faith, but we've not applied faith to our spirit man/woman, teaching it how it's to function and live in, while we're still in this body.
The principle is the same for everything in this new creation: BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND. Faith comes by hearing God's Word and the only understanding we have to put faith in, is His Word. If we don't put God's Word in our hearts, then we won't have faith to bring the Seed of it to pass. We know about the remission of sin, but we continue struggling to understand it and we still live under the guilt and condemnation of who we once were, instead of who He has made us to be now. It's by faith in God that we understand we are Righteous in Jesus Christ. Only He can make us Righteous and reinstate us back into God's Original Intent. It's only by faith, that this can become a liberty where we can confidently walk in His Presence. This is still just as True as when the universe was formed and held in place by God's Word, even if you don't have faith and understanding of it. Our lack of faith and understanding doesn't negate the Truth of God's Word, but we ensure that we continue walking in the bondage of the old man/woman.
God created man in His Image and Likeness and God is a Spirit. John 4:14 (Amplified) says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." We don't always do this, but walk in the soulish realm of emotions. Do we only worship Him in Spirit and Truth, for a short duration of church service on Sundays? Through Jesus, we've been returned to God's Original Intent for His family and we have the right to come into the fullness of His Presence, just like Jesus did in His earthly ministry. We can only understand this, by faith.
By faith, we understand that our Righteousness is framed and held into place by God's Word, just like His Word formed the heavens and earth and keeps them in place. It's not a matter of our "trying to become Righteous," but it's our receiving, by faith, the Truth of God's Word that says we are Righteous. If we would accept this Truth, then the burden of religion would become the liberty of reality, in our walk with God and it would make us free. We've been made free, by the Lordship of Jesus. If we don't have the faith to understand this, then we'll continue trying to become Righteous by our own works.
Jesus didn't have a sense of being unrighteous, nor did He live under condemnation, during His earthly walk. Those of us who've been born-again and made brethren, in His Own Image, shouldn't live under guilt and condemnation. "It's by Him, that we are made to be the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus," according to 2Corinthians 5:21. We should walk free from our past and in this new creation person, like Jesus did.
The Holy Spirit is speaking to each of us, saying in 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified), "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God (revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of salvation previously hidden), manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
This is something that has already been done for us in Jesus and it's by faith that we understand it. Without faith, we'll still walk in the memory of the old man/woman and who we used to be, instead of who we've become in Christ. Jesus has restored us to God's Original Intent, where we have no condemnation, guilt or fear of entering the Father's Presence. Man only became fearful, after Adam's fall in the Garden. We've been created new from all sin, guilt and condemnation of our past, because our old man/woman was crucified with Christ and we were raised in His Image and Likeness once again, as new creations. We can only understand this, by faith.
We read what God's Word says about this and want to believe. We keep trying to become what Jesus though God, has already made us to be...a new creation. The first creation was made in God's Image and Likeness, and this new creation never existed in the world. The struggle to become something that He has already made us to be, will end once understanding comes by faith in this Truth. Our walk with God will be like Jesus taught, "You shall know the Truth and the Truth will make you free." If we abide in Him and His Word abides in us, then the liberty will become a reality in hearts. It's already Truth, but it's hidden from us by the enemy's deception, if we don't have understanding.
We've become what the Father's heart wished for from the beginning. We're His sons and daughters, living as family in God's house. We're heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. God's Grace has already provided it and our faith in Him, must simply accept what He has done for us. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) is written for us to understand. Thus, it says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST'S SALVATION, THROUGH YOUR FAITH. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing), it came not through your own striving, but is THE GIFT OF GOD." It's by faith, we understand.
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